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22 EDUCATION
school
T
he Aztec civilisation still
holds a fascination centuries
after the empire fell. At their
peak from the 15th to the
16th century the Aztecs
controlled most of what is today
Mexico. They built huge stone
pyramid temples and large cities,
creating beautiful and sometimes
macabre works of art in stone,
wood, clay and precious metals.
When the Spanish invaded their
lands in the 16th century the
empire crumbled but the people
lived on. Their descendants can
still be found in Mexico today
keeping alive the memory of their
forebears. Aztecs, an exhibition of
priceless artefacts and multimedia exploring the rise and fall of
the kingdom, opens this week at
Australian Museum.
THE ORIGINS
The Aztecs had several legends of their
origins. One claimed their ancestors came
from Aztlan, a legendary island whose location
is unknown. Another legend said they came
from Chicomoztoc, seven caves near Aztlan,
from which seven tribes emerged to populate
the Valley of Mexico. In reality, studies of the
Aztec language and archaeological finds show
the Aztecs probably came from somewhere
north of modern-day Mexico. Aztec legend
describes a long period of wandering before
they founded their city of Tenochtitlan in
about 1325AD.
INFLUENCES
The Aztec culture did not materialise out of
nothing, it absorbed influences from many of
the cultures that existed across Mexico before
them. One of these was the Toltecs, whose
civilisation peaked between the 10th
and 13th centuries. The Aztecs considered the
Toltecs to be a model of perfection in their arts,
sciences and philosophy. The Aztecs copied
structures such as Toltec pyramids and built on
their knowledge of tools such as calendars.
The Aztecs also admired the people, who
built the city they named Teotihuacan, which
is thought to mean something close to “city of
the gods.”
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TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 9 2014 DAILYTELEGRAPH.COM.AU
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 16 2014
FOUNDATION
According to legend, after wandering for
centuries and being driven away from various
locations by hostile armies, the Aztecs received a
prophecy through priests from their war god
Huitzilopochtli. He told them to settle in a place
where they saw an eagle perched on a prickly
pear cactus. They saw this sign on swampy land
in Lake Texcoco and founded the city of
Tenochtitlan in 1325. In 1337 a group of Aztecs
split from Tenochtitlan to form the city of
Tlatelolco. Both cities competed with each
other for dominance.
A KINGDOM EMERGES
In 1375 the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan married one of
their nobles to a princess from Culhuacan, a city
founded by the Toltecs, so she could give birth to
an Aztec king who could trace his line back to the
Toltecs. She gave birth to a son, Acamapichtli,
who became their first huey tlatoani (great
leader). The Aztecs sent mercenaries to fight for
the Tepanec kingdom, for which they were
granted captured lands in 1428, expanding the
Aztec kingdom. Under the leader Itzcoatl a series
of alliances was forged, trade networks
established and battles won, that saw the empire
grow. In 1473 Tenochtitlan conquered Tlatelolco.
At its peak it would stretch over 200,000 sq km,
with as many as six million people.
Series 14
with TROY LENNON
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
CALENDARS
The Aztecs had two interlocking calendars. The
xiuhpohualli covered the days of the solar year
broken into 18 months of 20 days each, with an
extra five days to bring it up to 365 days. The extra
days were thought to be very unlucky and people
fasted and tried not to do anything that would
bring them bad luck. The xiuhpohualli also
determined when festivals were held and
sacrifices made. The other calendar was the
tonalpohualli (day count), a sacred calendar made
up of 20 signs and 13 numbers and consisting of
260 days. This calendar moved across the year
reaching the same point in the solar calendar every
52 years. The end of the cycle was celebrated in a
ceremony known as the “binding up of the years”.
All domestic fires were allowed to burn out and a
new fire was lit on the chest of a sacrificial victim,
from which new house fires could be lit. Pictured
above is a calendar stone circa 1500.
Aztec society was founded on extended family
groupings, or districts, known as calpulli. These
were usually a cluster of people sharing a
profession such as farming (below). A calpulli was
run by a lord called a teuctli, who met with other
teuctli at an altepetl, a kind of parliament. The
altepetl consulted with the great leader, the huey
tlatoani. Helping to run the state was a large, wellordered civil service of judges, tax collectors,
accountants and administrators who saw to
public works, sanitation, justice and generally
kept the city and the empire running. Priests
ensured religious observances were made,
including sacrifices. Only nobles, or pipiltin, could
hold high office, while the free commoners
(macehualtin) or slaves (tlacotin) did most of the
work. The merchants, or pochteca, imported and
exported goods and also acted as spies. A large
army of warriors kept order, defended the state
and fought wars of conquest.
THE EMPIRE FALLS
The Aztec empire came head to head with
the Spanish empire in 1519. Spanish
conquistador (a term for an explorer
and conqueror) Hernan Cortes (pictured
below) invaded Aztec territory. Although he
was only commissioned to establish trade
with the people of Mexico, Cortes marched
his army across the Aztec empire toward
Tenochtitlan. His progress was made easier
by a combination of the superiority of
Spanish weapons and armour and the
collaboration of conquered people,
who were dissatisfied with Aztec
rule. Cortez took huey tlatoani
Moctezuma (Montezuma) II
(pictured, top) hostage. When
another Spanish army arrived
under Panfilo Narvaez in 1520 to
arrest Cortes for treason, Cortes
left Technochtitlan with most of his
army to defeat Narvaez in battle.
Cortes returned to Tenochtitlan to find
the Aztecs had rebelled against the
Spanish. Moctezuma died in custody and his
nephew, Cuauhtemoc, took up the leadership to
continue resisting the Spanish. The Spanish finally
defeated the Aztecs in 1521.
Aztec ceremonial
dress and (main)
pyramids in the
ancient city of
Teotihuacan.
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